The Case of a Lifetime
by babs bush
Summary: When a little girl is assaulted, Benson and Stabler make a shocking discovery. Reviews appreciated! Feel free to post this story elsewhere, just keep my name on it and a link back to the posting.
1. Chapter 1

Benson and Stabler sat in the waiting room of the hospital, helpless. Across the hall, in one of the room recovery rooms, lay a little 11 year old girl, talking to Dr. Huang.

The girl, Emily, had been savagely attacked in her own back yard. Fortunately, the girl had not been sexually assaulted, but she'd been scratched and beaten pretty bad. The frustrating part was, it was by someone she knew, but she wouldn't talk. Dr. Huang had spoken with the little girl at length, trying to coax the identity of her abuser out of her, but it was like talking to a brick wall. Olivia herself had given it a shot earlier, reasoning that the girl might respond more favorably to a female, but it didn't work.

"Elliot, I'm stumped," said Benson. How can we help this poor girl if she won't talk to us? Surely she must know that it could happen again, unless we catch this guy!"

"I know, Liv. Everyone is trying their best. Until then, I think we should try to get CFS to take custody of Emily."

"Why?" asked Olivia.

"Because she refuses to deny that it was her father, and her father has no alibi. Besides, the father is clearly a crack head - she'd be better off."

"You can't just take a child away from her parents without any evidence," said Olivia. Although, inside, she loathed Emily's father and wised he would get hit by a bus.

Elliot, however, disagreed, and called the A.D.A. to see what could be done.

They passed the time watching Jerry Springer and Montel Williams on the waiting room TV, but their minds and hearts were really concentrated on that poor little girl. Eventually, Dr. Huang called a halt to his session with Emily, and came to see the 2 SVU detectives.

"Any news?" asked Stabler earnestly.

"None, I'm afraid," said the debonair Asian psychiatrist, shaking his head sadly. "In fact, things are getting worse than with you spoke with her, Olivia. The turmoil of her abuse seems to have caused Emily to enter into a fantasy world, and experience strange delusions."

"What do you mean?" asked Benson.

Huang sighed. It was sad to have to report this news.

"Emily seems to believe she is visited at night by small blue men with white hats. She says the little people live in mushroom shaped houses, and try to protect her from her attacker."

"What did she say about her attacker?"

"Not much," said Huang, regretfully. "Emily says that the little blue creatures are the mortal enemies of her attacker, who, along with an evil cat, is always trying to capture them and eat them. She even has a name for these little creatures - she calls them "Smurfs".

"Smurfs?" said Benson. "That poor, poor girl."


	2. Chapter 2

After a while, Benson and Stabler realized there was nothing more they could do for Emily from the hospital. When they arrived back at the precinct, A.D.A. Casey Novak was waiting for them.

"Good news," she said. "We've received a blanket search warrant for Emily's home."

They had been unable to search the home, because the attack had occurred outside, and Emily's parents were not official suspects. Thankfully, things had changed.

Stabler snatched the warrant.

"Thanks, Casey," he said. "What about protective custody?"

Casey shook her head.

"Unfortunately, there are no grounds for that at this time. Search the house, and if you find something, we can proceed from there."

Benson and Stabler turned around and headed out their door, on the way to Emily's house. When they arrived, no one was home. They had brought Munch and Fin with them, as backup. Fin went around to the back, in case anyone tried to run, and Munch stayed in the hall, just inside the door. They didn't want to chance that someone would come home, see them, and run away.

Stabler searched the upstairs, and Benson took the downstairs. For the most part, it was a regular house, not in very good condition, but livable. It wasn't too dirty. Searching around the kitchen, Benson found something very interesting.

"Bingo," she said. She found the father's crack pipe - grounds for moving Emily into some sort of protective custody, until her father could be cleared of the attack.

Upstairs, Stabler had found Emily's room. Glancing around the room, he saw a "Bratz" doll, and a few assorted toys laying about. A typical 11 year old girl's room. But suddenly, he heard something.

"Emily, is that you?" squeaked a tiny, high-pitched voice.

"Who said that!" demanded Stabler. He headed into the direction of the voice. Just then, Benson appeared at the door holding the crackpipe in a plastic bag.

"Who were you talking to?" she asked.

Elliott put his finger to his lip, gesturing Olivia to remain quiet. Silently as a fox, he tiptoed over in the direction of the voice. He came upon a dollhouse. The voice had definately come from inside. Quick as a flash, he grabbed the house and flung it open. Elliott and Olivia could never have in their wildest dreams imagined what they would see next.

Inside the doll house, shivering with fear, was a small blue creature. It looked humanoid, 2 arms, 2 legs. It stood erect on 2 feet, and wore white pants, a white hat, and white shoes. It stared at them with wide eyes.

"Are - are you friends of Emily?" it asked.


	3. Chapter 3

It took Benson and Stabler some time to recover from the shock of seeing the creature. This must have been one of those "Smurfs" that Emily had been talking about, but of course they never imagined it could be real. Children who'd been through horrific events like Emily had were prone to retreating into fantasy worlds, inventing imaginary friends, and the like. But they'd never actually met one of the victims' imaginary friends - until now.

The creature continued to stare at them, afraid.

"Please, don't turn me over to Gargamel," it pleaded in a high-pitched voice. "He'll make me into Smurf-stew!"

"Relax," said Benson. Although inside she was freaking out, on the outside she fought to keep her professional and soothing demeanor. This creature was clearly intelligent, and could potentially help them find out who had assaulted Emily.

Briefly, she wondered if the creature had done it himself, but she quickly dismissed the thought. It would take over 100 of the creatures to even knock a human being down. The notion that one or even 100 of them attacked Emily so savagely seemed preposterous. Besides, both Benson and Stabler noticed that the creature seemed friendly - in fact, it seemed to exude good cheer.

"We're not going to harm you," said Olivia, reassuringly. "Who is that person you mentioned? Gargamel?"

The Smurf shuddered at the mere mention of the name.

"Gargamel is the enemy of all Smurf-kind," he said. "And, he's the one who attacked Emily."

"Wait a minute," said Stabler. "Smurf-kind? Just how many of you are there in the world?"

"Millions," said the Smurf. "We live in every country across the world. We seldom show ourselves to humans, because, well, we've had bad experiences with them. Gargamel, for example. He's an evil wizard, who's been trying for centuries to wipe out all Smurfs on Earth!"

The creature paused to let this sink in.

"And, he's the one who attacked Emily!"

Benson and Stabler were agape.

"Do you know where this 'Gargamel' is right now?" Benson asked.

"No," said the Smurf. "But if you let me free, I'll return to my village and see if anyone has any ideas. And I bet Papa Smurf will know what to do!"

Benson and Stabler exchanged a glace. Was the creature genuinely trying to be helpful, or did he just want to escape?

Stabler decided.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Smurf," he began.

"My name is Lucky Smurf," said the creature.

"Okay, Lucky," said Elliot. "Listen, I'm afraid we're gonna have to take you downtown for questioning.

Upon hearing this, the Smurf started shaking and waving his tiny hands about.

"Sir, you can't! If the world at large were to learn of our existence, we'd be destroyed!"

"Why is that?" asked Benson.

"Because, when mixed with certain chemicals, Smurfs can be transformed into gold!" said the creature, in terror.

Though this freaked Benson and Stabler out greatly, they could tell by the creature's mannerism that he was being completely honest with them.

"Don't worry, Lucky," said Olivia. "We just want to help Emily. We won't tell anyone you exist. In fact, we'll bring you to see her. Would you like that?"

When he heard that, the Smurf brightened considerably.

"Oh, yes! That'd be just Smurfy!" he cried, happily.

"Stay right here, okay?" said Benson.

The Smurf nodded. The 2 detectives walked into the hall, keeping their eyes on the creature at all times.

"Olivia," said Stabler, "Why don't you take the Smurf to see Emily. Maybe he can get her to talk, get some details out of her."

"Good idea," Benson said. "Where will you go?"

"I'm gonna take a walk over to the Major Case Squad. I've got a friend over there who needs to hear about this. I've got a feeling that this case will be much bigger than Emily, too big for just the two of us to handle."

"Are you talking about Bobby Goren?" Olivia asked.

"Exactly," said Elliot. "Until you hear from me, don't tell anyone except Emily about our discovery. Not even Munch and Fin."

Olivia nodded in understanding. The two detectives walked back into the room, where the Smurf was still waiting.

"Alright, Lucky! Ready to go see Emily?" asked Olivia.

The Smurf nodded, joyfully.

Benson held out her hand, and the Smurf hopped on. She carefully placed him in her jacket pocket, and the two SVU detectives headed downstairs.


End file.
